Team BRAZO’s CycloCross Debut…

Well, today was Cyclocross race day for Oldest Mini Team BRAZO and myself. We only needed to travel about 2 miles into town to get to the race, so it was an easy morning.

We decide that it might be a good idea to pre-ride the course to see what we are getting ourselves into. The course was very flat with no hills, but they did a great job twisting and turning the course all over the place. The hardest part of the course (outside of the whole darn thing for me) was the ride through the sandy beach.


Oldest Mini Team BRAZO signs up for the Junior (10-14 yr old) age group which was scheduled to start at 10:15. Around that time, the race official notifies us that he was the only one signed up for the 10:15 race and that he had two choices – he could just ride a ceremonial lap around the course by himself and they would declare him the winner or he could ride with the Cat 4 group at 11:00 and he still would be declared the winner of his age group. So, he decided to ride with Dad in the Cat 4 group.

We met up with XT4 before the race and make our way to the starting line. The head official goes through the rules and how the race works. I was very interested in how the race ends – my plan was to just stop riding when everyone else stops. After his instructions on how the race ends, I still had no idea how the race ends.

The race starts and off we go through the grass turning some tight corners and racing along a fun course. I knew from my previous Cyclocross practice that I would need to pace myself for the race. My only hope to stay out of last place was “out endurance” someone. So, after the field had kind of spread out across the course I notice that I’m in the last pack with probably 5 other riders. I was just in front of this group and started to lose ground.

I didn’t really care if I came in last place and with JWM’s encouragement in my blog comments – I expected to pickup that place – but I either wanted to be in last place by a good distance or I didn’t want to be in last place. So, I kept up the pace as much as I could to stay in front of the others.

Finally, like what felt like 6 hours later, I heard in the distance the cow bell ringing – this meant that the lead rider only had one lap to go.

Now, my mind is trying to calculate out how I can stay out of last place but at the same time get lapped by the lead rider to ensure that this would also be my last lap. I’m about 2 turns from the finish line and then I hear my most favorite words from the leader “ON YOUR LEFT” – thank goodness, I was lapped and now I just had a few yards to the finish.

So, I finished in probably 4th to last place in one of the hardest things that I have done in a while. I remember telling Mrs. Team BRAZO along the way that I couldn’t wait until IronMan Louisville – had to be easier than this…